TV Review: The Walking Dead Season Five Episode Seven “Crossed”

by Sherry Lipp

Can you believe the mid-season break is almost upon us? Last Sunday’s episode, “Crossed,” pretty

much served as set up for whatever’s to come in the mid-season finale which airs November 30. As usual, for the band of survivors, nothing went as planned as Rick (Andrew Lincoln) stormed Atlanta to rescue Beth (Emily Kinney) and Carol (Melissa McBride).

The persistent theme of The Walking Dead is how much humanity has to lose in order to survive and how each character reconciles that emotionally. Rick and Carol particularly seem to be grappling with that issue, with Carol questioning how much her own life is worth and Rick adjusting his moral code to ensure his family’s survival.

Here’s the cool, and not so cool, for “Crossed:”

The Cool:

Daryl disagrees with Rick – For a while now it seems like Daryl has just been doing whatever Rick asks him to do. I liked seeing him think for himself for a change. I know things didn’t quite go right, but at least he did speak his mind.

Father Gabriel believes God will keep him safe – This may be one of the strangest characters ever on the show. Gabriel snuck out the church with absolutely no weapons, even after the big lecture from Carl (Chandler Riggs) about needing to learn to fight. He apparently thinks divine intervention has kept him safe this whole time. Who knows maybe he’s right.

Eugene really has something to offer – Last week we found out that Eugene is a big liar who isn’t going to save the world. That pretty much made him one of the worst people on the show, considering his total disregard for anyone’s life but his own.

We return to the hospital – Some people may not have thought a whole episode should have been devoted to Beth (Emily Kinney), but clearly the hospital, where she and Carol (Melissa McBride) are trapped, plays a big factor in the mid-season finale.

Rick’s back – Just glad to see him after two weeks.

The Not So Cool:

Carl – This character seems to be practically being written off the show. Yes, he gave Father Gabriel a pep talk about survival, but it seems they’ve run out of things to do with this character.

Slow pace – The first half of this episode seemed to drag without doing much for the story or characters.

The mid-season finale airs this Sunday at 9PM Easter/Pacific on AMC. The Walking Dead will return early 2015 – air dates TBD.